witchcraft, and doubtless also his protests against the ignorance and
immorality of the clergy, excited the jealousy and hatred of the
Franciscans, and he was in consequence imprisoned at Paris for ten years.
Clement IV., who had been a sympathiser, desired on his accession to see
his works, and in response B. sent him _Opus Majus_, a treatise on the
sciences (grammar, logic, mathematics, physics, and philosophy), followed
by _Opus Secundum_ and _Opus Tertium_. Clement, however, was near death
when they arrived. B. was comparatively free from persecution for the
next ten years. But in 1278 he was again imprisoned for upwards of ten
years. At the intercession of some English noblemen he was at last
released, and spent his remaining years at Oxford. He possessed one of
the most commanding intellects of his own, or perhaps of any, age, and,
notwithstanding all the disadvantages and discouragements to which he was
subjected, made many discoveries, and came near to many more. There is
still preserved at Oxford a rectified calendar in which he approximates
closely to the truth. He received the sobriquet of the "Doctor
Mirabilis."


BAGE, ROBERT (1728-1801).--Novelist, _b._ in Derbyshire, was the _s._ of
a paper-maker. It was not until he was 53 that he took to literature; but
in the 15 years following he produced 6 novels, of which Sir Walter Scott
says that "strong mind, playful fancy, and extensive knowledge are
everywhere apparent." B., though brought up as a Quaker, imbibed the
principles of the French Revolution. He was an amiable and benevolent
man, and highly esteemed. _Hermsprong; or, Man as He is Not_ (1796) is
considered the best of his novels, of which it was the last. The names of
the others are _Mount Kenneth_ (1781), _Barham Downs_ (1784), _The Fair
Syrian_ (1787), _James Wallace_ (1788), and _Man as He is_ (1792).